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Selection of dolls from the exhibition.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Julia Roberts, Uma Thurman and Madonna are all doing it, our Grandmothers were doing it generations before us and now nearly 100 people from around Wiltshire are doing it too!

Knitting of course!

A new exhibition by artist Sally Stanley has opened at the Salisbury Arts Centre. It features 450 hand knitted dolls which were started at a workshop held as part of the Arts Centre’s Open Day in September 2008.

Artist Sally Stanley with the dolls.

For centuries people across the world have been knitting, in fact the art of knitting  dates back to the third Century. One of the oldest artifacts ever knitted was a sock. It is believed that socks and stockings were the first pieces produced to add extra warmth during chilly winters.

Knitting in Europe was thought to have been developed by the Scandinavians, it was spread throughout Europe by the Vikings from the 8th - 11th centuries.

Knitting as we know it today, dates from the early 14th century and now in the 21st Century is seeing a resurgence, as natural wools such as alpaca, angora, merino, and plant fibres, like cotton, have become easier and less costly to collect and process.

In Salisbury the 450 knitted dolls made across Wiltshire are part of an exhibition called Knitted Genes, and has been created by stitching the dolls from recycled knitwear. Artist Sally Stanley said:

The knitted dolls.

"My work is concerned with the connections people make with each other and with the natural world.  The use of textiles can evoke memories within the individual and collective past.

Knitted Genes is concerned with the essence of each person and how we relate together regardless of age, gender and other possible barriers."

To create the exhibition Sally has worked with many community groups within the area, including running workshops at Burgate School in Fordingbridge which was a great success.

The Family Portraits exhibition is at Salisbury Arts Centre until Saturday 21 February. For further information please call the Box Office on 01722 321744.